Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to reduce frequent absences of children from school.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

Tackling absence is at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. If children aren’t in school, it doesn’t matter how effective or well-supported teaching and learning is, they will not benefit. Thanks to the hard work of parents and teachers there has been progress, but levels of absenteeism remain far too high.

The department has set out clear expectations of local authorities and schools in the ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance, which was made statutory on 19 August 2024. This guidance can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66bf300da44f1c4c23e5bd1b/Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance_-_August_2024.pdf

The guidance promotes a 'support first' approach and sets out clear expectations on how schools, trusts, local authorities and wider services should work together and with families to address attendance barriers and provide the right support, including where a pupil is not attending due to special educational needs.

The department has also established 31 attendance hubs that have offered their support to around 2000 other schools. Hubs are established and led by senior leaders in schools with strong attendance practice. The meetings led by hubs are intended to give senior leaders in other schools a forum to discuss and share effective attendance practice.

Last year, the department published an attendance toolkit, bringing together effective practice from across the hubs. The toolkit gives schools practical advice on how to diagnose and target their attendance problem and how to effectively implement great practice.

We are also strengthening our tools for faster and more effective school improvement by launching the new regional improvement for standards and excellence (RISE) teams. Supported by over £20 million, these teams will offer both mandatory targeted intervention for schools identified by Ofsted as needing to improve and a universal service, acting as a catalyst for a self-improving system for all schools. The RISE teams have begun work with the first group of schools eligible for the targeted, bespoke service, including support for attendance as necessary. Improving school attendance is a national priority for RISE teams.